Beaten at Your Own Game
by Ramona Bandicoot
Summary: 'Thieving is always more fun when you have some friendly competition and is even more fun for you opponent when she beats you at you own game.' SlyxOC -oneshot-


**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Just a quick oneshot I thought up the other day. I know it sounds a lot like to the plot for Sly and Carmelita at Rajan's ball, but is a completely different story. And I'm still working on A Way to End it All, but I just decided to take a short break from it and post this oneshot. Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think. And again, for information on Ramona, please read How They Met for information on her._

Beaten at You're Own Game

I casually strolled into the overly crowded ballroom and observed my surroundings. I kept my paws behind my back as I walked throughout the crowds of chattering party goers. I had a slight flash of déjà vu and thought back to when I stole the Clockwerk wings from Rajan's ball a few years ago. This was different however, instead of stealing giant, metal bird wings, Bentley decided that we should steal the El Corazón de México; a rather large and expensive Mexican fire opal. After we steal it and have it in our possession, we could sell it over ThiefNet and bring in a bucket load of cash. Like what I had to do during Rajan's ball a few years back, I would have to distract the crowd with some well timed dancing and Murray and Bentley would go in and steal the gem. Since this was more like a cocktail party than a ball, there would only be a short window of opportunity to dance with someone and let Bentley and Murray pull off the heist.

"Sly, Sly, can you hear me?" Bentley's voice filled my ear piece. I casually brought my paw up to my ear and turned the volume down or I'd have my eardrums blown out.

"I heard you Bentley," I said softly so no one could hear me, "what's your status?"

"We're in the ballroom and ready to steal the gem. They're getting ready to start the dancing. Do you have a dance partner yet?"

"No, I'm still looking. Everyone here has a partner, I can't find a single person." Unlike my events with the Indian ball, Inspector Fox wasn't here to dance with and neither was Constable Neyla, thankfully.

"Well you'd better hurry or this job's a bust! Let us know when you get a partner and we'll set in." we signaled off and I continued my search for a dance partner. I would have asked Ramona for help, even though she's a rival, but she mentioned she had a job to pull tonight so she wasn't an option.

In a crunch for time to find a dance partner, I walked over to the food table to see if I could find anyone. There were a few people standing there and I walked next to a female raccoon that was standing alone at the end of the table. Neither of us were getting anything to eat, merely looking over the table. The woman appeared to be here alone and I figured I would try to see if I could dance with her so we could complete this heist.

"Excuse me, ma'am," I turned to the woman and figured I would go head on and just ask the woman for a dance, "may I ask you a question."

"Yes you may." I was slightly taken back by her accent. It had a thick, southern drawl and it was obvious she was from a southern state in the U.S.

"I don't want to offend you in any way, but are you here alone?" she turned her head slightly before answering.

"Yes, is that some sort of problem?" she crossed her arms over her chest and stared intently.

"No, or course not. I came here alone as well and I would like to dance but I don't have a partner. And I know we know nothing about each other or even first names but I saw that you were standing here alone and I was wondering if you would enjoy a dance?" her expression softened.

"Well, if you put it like that, I suppose that would be alright." She smiled and we both headed for the dance floor.

I walked behind the unknown woman and I glanced over to Bentley, who was a few feet to my right. I threw him a thumbs up and the operation was on a roll. Along with a few other pairs of people, we joined each other on the dance floor and got ready to dance. We assumed the traditional tango position and waited for the music. I will admit and say that it is somewhat awkward to ask a perfect stranger to a dance as personal as this but at least after this dance was over I would never see this woman again. The music began and we started moving. I went forward as she went backwards as the dance was starting out. There were other couples around us and everyone in the ballroom watched the couples dance. I shot a glance to Murray and Bentley, who were in the back, start to head in the direction of the jewel safe. My unnamed dance partner and I twisted and turned on the dance floor as the music continued. I took my focus off of my teammates for a while so I could focus on the dance at hand and not look like I was up to something.

The dancing continued for another few minutes until the music stopped playing and all of the couples stopped moving. My dance partner thanked me for the dance and before we could say anything else, there was a huge uprising. People were yelling that the El Corazón de México fire opal had been stolen and people were rushing around. I figured Bentley and Murray had gotten it successfully until I heard otherwise in my earpiece.

"Sly! Sly! It's horrible! Someone stole it before we could even walk to the display case!" I could see Bentley standing on the other side of the room, obviously frantic. I turned back to my dance partner to see if she had seen anything, but when I turned around she was gone. I glanced around the room and noticed she was calmly walking towards the exit. She turned quickly and shot me a glance. Along with the glance, she gave a wink and a smile before exiting the building. Her look started making me suspicious and I decided to follow her. I brushed past the other party goers to see if I could catch up with the stranger I had just danced with. I reached the front doors to the building and looked up and down the street for the woman and didnt find her.

"Bentley," I said into my earpiece, "did you see who took the gem?" I decided to ask him to see if I could get any additional information.

"No! We got the case and it was empty! A hole had been cut into it and the gem was gone! That's when other people realized it was gone and started making an uprising." I sighed and decided I would search around for the woman.

"Alright, I'll meet you at the safehouse in a little bit, I'm going to see what I can find out." We disconnected again and I walked down the street in search of my mysterious dance partner to see if she had anything to do with the missing gem. I walked about half a mile down the streets before I decided to place my paws in my pockets. I stopped walking and moved my paw around in my pocket. I pulled out a folded envelope that hadn't been there when I put my suit on a few hours before. I glanced at the front of the paper and noticed my name was hand written on the paper. I opened the envelope and read the handwritten note over.

_Thieving is always more fun when you have some friendly competition and is even more fun for you opponent when she beats you are you own game. I did want to thank you for helping me with my heist tonight at that I'll try to figure out someway to thank you._

_P.S. – Consider working on your tango_

_-Ramona B._

"That little sneak! She beat me at my own game!" I laughed as I refolded the note and replaced it in my pocket. After I returned the note, I took off for the eastern end of the city to go pay a certain 'southern tongued' female raccoon and dance partner a visit about a freshly stolen Mexican fire opal.


End file.
